“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” Politico reports, “is in talks to run on the Libertarian Party presidential ticket — a move that could translate his popularity into becoming a near-guaranteed choice on ballots in all 50 states.”

Kennedy also plans to announce his choice of running mate, likely tech lawyer Nicole Shanahan, on March 26. Presidential and vice-presidential candidates can spend unlimited money on their own campaigns and Shanahan’s a multi-billionaire, meaning that a  Kennedy/Shanahan ticket could go toe to toe with Joe Biden and Donald Trump when it comes to campaign finances.

However, I see some major problems with the idea of a Kennedy/Shanahan as a Libertarian Party presidential ticket.

First, a disclaimer: I’ve been involved with the Libertarian Party since 1996.  In 2022, when what I deemed a Republican “infiltrate and neuter” operation (my opinion) operating as a PAC/caucus “took over” (their own words) the party’s management, I withdrew from involvement. I am, however, back, and will attend the party’s national convention in Washington, DC over Memorial Day weekend. I hope and expect that actual libertarians will regain control.

Problem One: Kennedy is not a Libertarian. I don’t intend that as an insult. Some of his policy positions do align with the party’s, others don’t, and some completely contradict the party’s platform. Political parties should nominate candidates who support their platforms and policy positions. Candidates who don’t support a party’s platform and policy positions should run as independents or seek the nominations of parties they’re more representative of.

Problem Two: Being “in talks” to run on the Libertarian Party’s ticket is a meaningless claim. Unlike the major parties, the Libertarian Party has “unbound” delegates. More than a thousand of them. They vote as they choose, not as they’re required to by e.g. primary election results. If Kennedy wants the nomination, he’ll have to have some great “talks” with those delegates. And since most of them are already selected, he’ll have to do so AT the convention.

Problem Three:  Getting the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination is far from becoming “a near-guaranteed choice on ballots in all 50 states.” The party HAS managed to get 50-state ballot access before. But not always … and at present, after two years of destruction at the hands of the aforementioned the party is a shell of what it formerly was. Fifty state ballot access isn’t impossible, but it’s not “near-guaranteed.”

RFK, Jr. is a poor fit for the Libertarian Party’s objectives, and the party really doesn’t have as much to offer him as the Politico article implies.

Which is not to say he shouldn’t run for president. That’s his call. But he should run in his own lane instead of trying to get the Libertarian Party to run itself off the road for him.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

PUBLICATION/CITATION HISTORY

On March 23, the US Senate passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill, presumably bringing an end to months of congressional combat, “stopgap” measures, etc., by accepting the House version of that bill without amendments that would require renegotiation.

As is usual with big government spending bills, it’s hard to get one’s mind around the total without dividing it by the number of people expected to pick up the tab.

In this case, my rough calculation (based on the round number for the total and the latest estimates of US population is that the US government just ordered every man, woman, and child in America (yes, this means you) to cough up about $3,600.

Not all at once, of course. Much of it just will be borrowed and added to the “national debt” — currently about $35 trillion — with you as collateral. You didn’t apply for a loan, or co-sign the loan, but when the US government borrows money, it implicitly offers up your future earnings as guarantee of payment.

As I write this, Congress owes its creditors about $35 trillion, leaving you on the hook — or so they claim, anyway — for more than $100,000.

And no, they’re not making any effort to pay that debt down. They’re continuing to borrow, and continuing to let the borrowed principal increase even as interest payments on that principal constitute an ever-growing portion of their annual spending.

As economist Herbert Stein noted in 1986, “if something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”

The borrowing can’t go on forever, for two reasons:

First, ever-increasing “debt service” — payments of interest which never reduce the principal still owed — will eventually grow to more than the size of any plausible federal budget.

Second, as it becomes more and more clear that that principal will never be honestly repaid (at best, some kind of “trillion-dollar coin” scam might be contrived to screw creditors while supposedly “paying” the bill) and that even paying interest is getting questionable, fewer and fewer potential creditors will be willing to buy US government debt.

The borrowing will end sooner or later. It will end with, at the very least, de facto default, and possibly with the dissolution of the US government as we know it.

On the whole, I think that’s good news along the lines of finally kicking out a housemate who keeps stealing and selling household items to cover his gambling losses.

But, make no mistake, most Americans will end up much poorer than we believe ourselves to be at the moment. The fallout may make the Great Depression look like the Good Old Days.

When that time comes, make sure you have something in your wallet besides Federal Reserve Notes. “The full faith and credit” of the US government is only worth the paper it’s printed on because most people still don’t understand that they’re being conned.

When they DO start understanding that, they’re going to start demanding gold, silver, or cryptocurrency on the barrelhead. There’s no time like the present to start moving in that direction yourself.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

PUBLICATION/CITATION HISTORY

In 2022, The Daily Beast reports, Adaptive Driving Beam (ADB) headlights for automobiles became legal in the United States — but still aren’t available because, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation says, conflicting National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulations make their implementation “practically impossible.”

ADB headlights arguably save lives in two ways:

First, they reduce the glare of oncoming high-beam headlights. If you’ve been driving for long, you’ve probably found yourself momentarily blinded when an approaching driver forgot to dim his lights. That’s dangerous.

Second, they provide adequate light in situations where a driver might not otherwise see a pedestrian or cyclist. According to the American Automobile Association, 77% of pedestrian deaths occur at night, and 64% of drivers don’t regularly use their high beams.

ADB headlights adapt to put the right amount of light in the right places — less light in an oncoming driver’s eyes, more light on a pedestrian crosswalk next to a burnt-out street light.

Even with instant approval, the long life of the average car means that ADB headlights would take years to completely supplant “traditional” headlights … and NHTSA pettifogging keeps pushing that time further and further out into the future.

As of 2022, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, moving vehicles killed more than 7,500 pedestrians — more than 20 per day.

Not all of them at night, not all of them due to low visibility or improper headlight technique, of course, but let’s conservatively assume that widespread adoption of ADB headlight technology would knock the number down by 10%. That’s two lives per day, 730 per year, saved.

I suspect the impact would be much larger, but saving even 730 lives per year by GETTING OUT OF INNOVATION’S WAY seems like a better outcome than causing 730 unnecessary deaths per year by needlessly stalling.

Unfortunately, ABD headlights are far from the only innovation that gets caught up in the cycle of government approval:

1. Something’s invented that might make things better; but
2. The US government forbids its adoption; until
3. The US government allows its adoption, but only under arbitrary and irrational conditions; after years of fighting,
4. The US government finally allows its adoption; then
5. The US government requires its universal implementation without regard to whether producers or customers actually want it.

Steps 1 and 4 make your life better. They make you safer, healthier, and wealthier.

Steps 2, 3, and 5 negatively impact your life, your health, and your bottom line, no matter how much “for your own good” lecturing accompanies them.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

PUBLICATION/CITATION HISTORY